NOT PRECEDENTIAL

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR T HE THIRD CIRCUI T

___________

No. 2 0

- 2 8 4 5

________ __

U N I T E D S T A T E S O F A M E R I C A

v.

J U A N L U G O

, Appellant

_____________________ _______________

On Appeal from the United States District Court

for the M i d d l e District of P e n n s y l v a n i a

(D.C. C r i m i n a l No. 1

- 1 1

- c r

- 00068

- 001 )

District Judge: Ho norable M a t t h e w W

. B r a n n

____________________________________

Submitted Pursuant to Third Cir cuit LAR 34.1(a)

J a n u a r y 4

, 2 0 2 1

Before: J O R D A

N

, M A T E Y a n d N Y G A A R D

, Circuit Judges

(Opinion file d : January 11, 2021 )

___________

OPINION *

___________

PER CURIAM

Appellant J u a n L u g o appeals from the order of the District Court den ying his

motion for c o m p a s s i o n a t e r e l e a s e under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)

. We will affirm.

* This dispos ition i s not an opinion of the ful l C ourt and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not

constitute binding p rec edent.2

I n 201 1

, L u g o pleaded guilty to d i s t r i b u t i o n a n d p o s s e s s i o n w i t h i n t e n t t o d i s t r i b u t e

c o c a i n e in violation of 2 1 U.S.C. § 8 4 1 ( a ) ( 1 ) . The District Court sentence d him to 1 2 0

months in prison

, t o b e s e r v e d c o n s e c u t i v e l y t o t h e 5 1

- m o n t h s e n t e n c e i m p o s e d f o r

v i o l a t i n g t h e c o n d i t i o n s o f s u p e r v i s e d r e l e a s e i n a p r i o r c r i m i n a l c a s e

. L u g o d i d n o t f i l e a

d i r e c t a p p e a l

.

A fter exhausting his administrative remedies w i t h i n t h e B u r e a u o f P r i s o n s

, i n J u l y

2 0 2 0

, L u g o filed h i s m o t i o n seeking compassionate release based on “extr aordinary and

compelling reasons” under 18 U.S.C. § 3 582(c)(1)(A)(i). L u g o s t a t e d t h a t h e h a s

numero us health condit i ons that i n c r e a s e h i s risk of seri ous complications or death if he

contrac ts COVID

- 19. S p e c i f i c a l l y

, h e a l l e g e d t h a t h e h a s “ m o d e r a t e

- s e v e r e ” a s t h m a

,

h y p e r l i p i d e m i a

, p r e h y p e r t e n s i o n

, o b e s i t y

, a n d p r e d i a b e t e s

. H e a l s o l i s t e d h i s m e d i c a t i o n

r e g i m e n a n d p r o v i d e d s o m e d e t a i l s o f h i s m e d i c a l history

. A f t e r c o n s i d e r i n g t h e p a r t i e s ’

b r i e f s

, t he District Court agreed that Lugo ’s m o d e r a t e a s t h m a d i a g n o s i s d e m o n s t r a t e s a n

e l e v a t e d risk f

r o m C O V I D

- 1 9 a n d e s t a b l i s h e s e x t r a o r d i n a r y a n d c o m p e l l i n g r e a s o n s f o r

c o m p a s s i o n a t e r e l e a s e

. H o w e v e r , the Distr ict Court denied L u g o ’ s motio n

, c o n c l u d i n g

t h a t L u g o ’ s r e l e a s e w a s n o t w a r r a n t e d

, s t a t i n g t h a t “ t h o s e e x t r a o r d i n a r y a n d c o m p e l l i n g

r e a s o n s a r e o u t w e i g h e d b y th e r e le v a n t 1 8 U

. S

. C

. § 3 5 5 3 ( a ) s en t e nc i ng f a c t o r s an d the

d a n g e r t h a t L u g o p o s e s ‘ t o t h e s a f e t y o f a n y o t

h e r p er so n o r t o t he c o m m u n i t y

. ’ ” ( D i s t

.

C t

. S e p

. 2

, 2 0 2 0 O r d e r a t 4 ( c i t i n g 1 8 U

. S

. C

. § 3 5 8 2 ( c ) ( 1 ) ( A ) ; U

. S

. S e n t e n c i n g

G u i d e l i n e s M a n u a l § 1 B 1

. 1 3 ( 2 ) )

. ) L u g o f i l e d a t i m e l y n o t i c e o f a p p e a l

.3

We have jurisdictio n under 2 8 U.S.C. § 1291. We revie w the District Court’s

ruling on a § 358 2(c)(1)(A)(i) motion fo r compassionate release for abuse of disc retion.

See United States v. Pawl owski , 967 F.3 d 32 7

, 330 (3d Cir. 2020)

.

B e c a u s e t h e D i s t r i c t C o u r t f o u n d t h a t L u g o ’ s a s t h m a i s s u f f i c i e n t t o e s t a b l i s h

e x t r a o r d i n a r y a n d c o m p e l l i n g r e a s o n s f o r c o m p a s s i o n a t e r e l e a s e

, 1 L u g o ’ s a r g u m e n t s o n

a p p e a l c o n c e r n t h e D i s t r i c t C o u r t ’ s w e i g h i n g o f o t h e r f a c t o r s t o d e n y h i s m o t i o n

. F o r

e x a m p l e

, L u g o p r o t e s t s t h a t t h e D i s t r i c t C o u r t r e l i e d o n c r i m i n a l h i s t o r y

, i n c l u d i n g

m a r i j u a n a c h a r g e s f

r o m w h e n h e w a s a t e e n a g e r a n d c o n t e m p t o f c o u r t c o n v i c t i o n s

r e l a t i n g t o c h i l d s u

p p o r t t h a t s i n c e h a s b e e n p a i d

. H e a l s o n o t e s t h a t m a r i j u a n a i s n o w

l e g a l i n m a n y s t a t e s

. I n s u m

, L u g o a r g u e s t h a t t h e D i s t r i c t C o u r t s h o u l d n o t h a v e

c o n c l u d e d t h a t he i s a danger to the comm unit y o n h i s r e c o r d

, a n d t h a t c o m p a s s i o n a t e

r e l e a s e i s w a r r a n t e d

.

W e d i s c e r n n o a b u s e o f d i s c r e t i o n h e r e

. C o n s i d e r a t i o n o f r e l e v a n t § 35 53(a)

factors i s a n e x p l i c i t p a r t o f t h e a n a l y s i s o f a m o t i o n u n d e r § 3 5 8 2 ( c ) ( 1 ) ( A ) ; t h o s e f a c t o r s

include “ history and characteristics of the defendant

, ” “ the need for the sentence i mposed

. . . to promote respect fo r the law

, ” a n d “ deterrenc e to criminal conduct

. ” S e e

Pawlowski , 967 F.3d at 330 ( q u o t i n g 1 8 U

. S

. C

. § 3553(a) ( 1 ) a n d (2)(A)

- (B) )

. M o r e o v e r

,

a s the D i s t r i c t C o u r t n o t e d

, c o n s i d e r a t i o n o f w h e t h e r L u g o i s a d a n g e r t o t h e c o m m u n i t y

i s r e l e v a n t t o e v a l u a t i n g w h e t h e r g r a n t i n g c o m p a s s i o n a t e r e l e a s e u n d e r § 3 5 8 2 ( c ) ( 1 ) ( A ) i s

1 The Government does not concede this point. See Appel lee ’ s Br . at 10

- 11. We need

not a ddress the issue in light of our disposition of this appea l

.4

c o n s i s t e n t w i t h S e n t e n c i n g C o m m i s s i o n p o l i c y

. S e e 1 8 U

. S

. C

. § 3142(g) ; U.S.S.G

.

§ 1B1.13 ; s e e a l s o Pawlow ski , 967 F.3d at 329 n.6 ( n o t i n g t h a t

, 

### u n d e r § 3 5 8 2 ( c ) ( 1 ) ( A )

,

a sentence reduction mus t be “c onsistent with applicable policy stateme nts issued

by the Sentencing Commis s i on ” )

. I n L u g o ’ s c a s e

, t h e D i s t r i c t C o u r t c o n s i d e r e d t h e

s e r i o u s n a t

u r e o f L u g o ’ s c u r r e n t c o c a i n e d i s t r i b u t i o n c o n v i c t i o n

, a l o n g w i t h h i s

s i g n i f i c a n t crimina l h i s t o r y

, whi c h a l s o i n c l u d e s r e c k l e s s e n d a n g e r m e n t a n d p o s s e s s i o n o f

f i r e a r m s i n f

u r t h e r a n c e o f d r

u g t r a f f i c k i n g

. I n a d d i t i o n

, t h e g o v e r n m e n t p o i n t e d o u t t h a t

,

w h i l e i n c u s t o d y

, L u g o h a s b e e n d i s c i p l i n e d f o r f i g h t i n g a n d f

o r p o s s e s s i n g a n d u s i n g

n a r c o t i c s a m o n g s t o t h e r i n f r a c t i o n s

. A d d r e s s i n g d e t e r r e n c e o f f u r t h e r c r i m i n a l a c t i v i t y

a n d p r o m o t i n g r e s p e c t f

o r t h e l a w

, t h e D i s t r i c t C o u r t a l s o n o t e d t h e i m p o r t a n c e o f t h e f a c t

t h a t L u g o c o m m i t t e d h i s c u r r e n t o f f e n s e w h i l e o n s u

p e r v i s e d r e l e a s e

. U p o n c o n s i d e r a t i o n

o f t h e r e c o r d a n d L u g o ’ s a r g u m e n t s

, w e f i n d n o “ c l e a r e r r o r o f j u d g m e n t ” i n t h e D i s t r i c t

C o u r t ’ s d e c i s i o n m a d e a f t e r w e i g h i n g p e r m i s s i b l e f a c t o r s

. S e e Pawlowski , 967 F.3 d at

330

.

F o r t h e s e r e a s o n s

, w e w i l l a f f i r m t h e D i s t r i c t C o u r t ’ s j u d g m e n t

.